ARHI-281 : African Art History III

This course introduces the art and architecture of Africa, beginning some 8,000 years ago and continuing into the 1990s. We will begin with an overview of Ancient Peoples and Sacred Sites in Africa (8,000 BCE - 800 CE). We then follow with consideration of African Art and World Religions (450 - 1450). African Art and Global Trade (1450 - 1860) is the third section. Then we will look at Africa, Colonialism and the Modern World (1860 - 1957). Lastly, we will consider The Art of African Nations (1957 - 1994). The first evidence of an aesthetic impulse is about 75,000 years ago at Blombos Cave in South Africa. We will end the course by considering contemporary art coming into the 21st Century. Thus, we will investigate a span of art-making longer than any you have looked at so far. Our exploration will look at art forms that developed on the continent as well as those that were inspired from outside sources.